The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017 crossed the continent, from Oregon to South Carolina, and gave millions of people the chance to witness one of the most awe-inspiring events in the natural world.

But you had to be within the "path of totality", a narrow band across the earth's surface several thousand miles long but only about 70 miles wide. Outside that band you would only see a partial eclipse, not a total eclipse.

And there is no such thing as a "partial total eclipse", despite the impression blogs and the news media might give. I honestly think that's why so many people misunderstand the utter beauty of the spectacle; they may have seen a partial eclipse in the past that was total somewhere else, and even though they weren't in the path the news kept gushing about it being a total eclipse, so they assume they must have seen a total eclipse and just didn't find it all that impressive.


Posted by Dan 08/29/2017, revised 09/06/2017

Great weather, great venue, great race--what a way to finish the 2009 triathlon season! We're on Australia's Gold Coast to support Kim as she competed for Team USA in the 2009 ITU Triathlon World Championships.

Australia has been good -- the weather is sunny, 23 degrees (or 73 degrees for the folks back home), and just a light breeze. For the benefit of spectators, the course is entirely on city streets and parks (even the 40K bike leg) and folds back and forth several times past the spectator area.

Kim completed the Olympic distance course 40th overall against 635 women from 42 countries! She was USA's third overall finisher.

Of the 84 competitors in the Women's 25-29 Age Group, she finished 16th, and was number 1 for Team USA!




Posted by Dan 09/12/2009, revised 09/19/2009

Well we managed to extricate ourselves from Koh Tao last week. The trick is to do it fast and with no warning. We went down to check on tickets to Chiang Mai and found that it was either leave the next day or wait another week for availability, so we booked it and got the next boat off.

Goodells Rule!

Posted by nik 10/21/2008, revised 11/05/2008

Once upon a time, a tiny ball of snow sat atop a hill. One afternoon, a wind came along and nudged the little ball over the crown of the slope. Slowly, the ball began to roll... down, down, down. As it passed over the land, it gradually picked up more and more snow to add to its constitution. With the newly added substance, the ball rolled faster yet, garnering still more matter.

Soon, the ball rolled with such power, such momentum and strength, that to try and act on the mass in a direction other than its rollin' way was... futile.

This, my friends, is why I have not managed to inform you all of the goings-on of my Life. The snowball has been rolling, rolling, rolling, and I have been running beside it, laughing with childlike glee all the way. I will not try to run uphill through the powdery fluff to tell you of what happened at that part of the slope or describe to you what this tree looked like when we flew past it. Because while I do that, the ball is still rolling, still passing other beautiful trees, still gathering more snow and continuing on its way. Thus I can only attempt to depict the here and now, and keep rolling along with Life as it flies.

Loving and living

Posted by Whitney 06/09/2011